Railway coupler butt

ABSTRACT

An improved railway coupler shank design wherein the thickness T of the rear spherical wall of the butt and the minimum thickness t of the sidewalls are maintained in the relationship of T t. The improved coupler so designed causes a change in the force and moment distribution of the shank so that the proportionally stiffer and stronger rear walls resists a greater portion of the induced moment thereby providing a stress reduction in both the rear wall and the sidewalls. The relationship of T t also serves to reinforce the rear spherical wall of the butt thereby increasing its wearing characteristics.

United States Patent Shramovich 1 Jan. 18, 1972 54] RAILWAY COUPLER BUTT 3,402,825 9/1968 Gray et al. ..2l3/64 [72] Inventor: Paul F. shmmovich Chicago m I 3,568,857 3/1971 Altherr ..2l3/64 [73] Assignee: Amsted Industries Incorporated, Chicago, i ry Ex in rDrayt0n E- Hoffman lll. AttorneyWalter L. Schlegel, Jr, and N. E. Von Behren [22] Filed: DCC. 16, 1970 57 ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 98,658 An improved railway coupler shank design wherein the thickness T of the rear spherical wall of the butt and the 52 U.S.Cl ..213/64,2l3/62, 213/69 minimum hickness the sidewalls maintained in [51] Int. Cl ..B61g 9/00 relationship of T The improved couple" so designed causes [58] Field of Search ..2| 3/62 64 67 69 a change the mmem dismbum" flhe Shank that the proportionally stiffer and stronger rear walls resists a greater portion of the induced moment thereby providing a [56] Rem-em Cited stress reduction in both the rear wall and the sidewalls. The UNITED STATES PATENTS relationship of T I also serves to reinforce the rear spherical wall of the butt thereby increasing its wearing characteristics, 2,889,940 6/1959 Metzger ..2l3/69 2,973,103 2/1961 Tack ..2l3/64 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED Mi 81912 3,635,356

F/sum:

F/GURE Z l7 TTOE/VE Y5 RAILWAY COUPLER BUTT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to railroad couplers and more particularly to an improved railroad coupler wherein the butt area of the shank has greatly improved characteristics as hereinafter described.

In the design of railway couplers, great care must be given to the butt area of the coupler since this portion is subject to vigorous wearing conditions during service, and to repeated heavy loadings which may result in sufficiently high stress con-v centrations that could cause a failure of the coupler to occur at an inopportune moment.

Prior art coupler shank improvements in the butt area have often been a hit or miss proposition resulting in adding a little more metal here or there and testing the coupler under load to see if the new coupler stand would stand up.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the problems inherent in prior art shank design, the improved coupler described herein has been provided with a rear spherical wall thickness Tand a minimum sidewall thickness t in such proportions that T: t. The coupler so improved has shown marked decreases in the sidewall and butt stresses with an increased rear wearing surface.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a new and novel improved railway coupler shank wherein the rear spherical wall of the butt is equal to or larger in thickness than the minimum sidewalls in proximity to the pin hole.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel improved railway coupler shank wherein the butt portion of the coupler carries a greater share of the coupler load and due to its own increased stiffness results in stress reductions in the coupler butt and sidewall portion of the shank.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel improved coupler shank having increased wearing surfaces on the rear spherical wall.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a study of the drawing and a reading of the description of the preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the improved railroad coupler of the type herein described; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the shank portion at the butt area of the coupler shown in FIG. 1 taken along the horizontal centerline of the coupler.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical railroad coupler comprising a head 12 and a shank 14. The shank 14 is arranged to be received' within a yoke (not shown) in a conventional manner and is secured therein by meansbf a pin 16 extending through an opening 18 in the shank. The opening 18 is also arranged to receive a bearing block 20, which slidably engages the pin 16 and which is in complementary arcuate thrust engagement as at 22 with the shank 14 at the rear extremity of the opening 18.

Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawing there is shown an enlarged sectional view of the butt portion of the coupler, shown generally as the numeral 24, which comprises a pair of sidewalls 26 rigidly fastened to a rear spherical wall 28 and a front wall 30. The rear spherical wall 28 has a thickness as shown in the drawing by the letter T and is formed by a pair of radii 32 and 34 having their center at the intersection of the axis A-A and'BB. The outer radius 34 as well as other critical dimensions on a coupler are controlled by standards set by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The sidewalls 26 have a minimum thickness as shown in the drawing by the letter r and are formed by a plurality of radii 36, 38 40, 42 and 44. These dimensions are also controlled by the AAR to insure that the end product of all coupler manufacturers will be interchangeable in operation and to insure that these couplers will be of sufficient strength to adequately protect the public at large.

It has been determined that when the relationship of the rear wall thickness Tand the sidewall thickness 1 is such that T is equal to or greater than t, an improved coupler butt is obtained. The prior art coupler was designed with the rear wall thickness T somewhat less than the sidewall thickness 1. For example in prior art couplers with T=l inches, the sidewall thickness 2 would be approximately I 9/16 inches.

In comparing this prior art coupler with the new and improved coupler of the present invention the following table I illustrates dramatically the improvement in the coupler butt and sidewall areas when the relationship of Tto t is maintained as I Z r:

From the above it can be seen that use of the present relationship Tat results in greatly reduced stress levels in the sidewalls and the butt of the coupler. In the preferred embodiment approved by the AAR the thickness T has been designed to 1% inches with the minimum thickness r being held at approximately the same dimension. However, it is understood that these dimensions may be varied subject to AAR approval within the limits of T: r without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

When the rear wall thickness T is increased to l% inches from the prior art thickness of 1% inches, the additional metal on the spherical end wall 28 not only increases the load carrying capabilities of the butt but causes the force and moment distribution to shift such that the stiffer butt portion carries a greater share of the total coupler load which, due to its increased stiffness (moment of inertial increase) and with an increased section modulus at most critical areas results in stress reductions in both the butt and sidewall portions of the coupler shank.

In addition the increase in rear wall thickness results in increasing its wear characteristics which is an added benefit obtained by the instant invention.

From the foregoing it can be seen that there has been provided a new and improved railroad coupler shank having greatly improved stress characteristics in the butt and sidewall areas. While many changes may be made in the construction details and arrangement of the parts of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims, the invention is not to be limited to the exact matters shown and described since only the preferred embodiment has been given by way of illustration only.

lclaim:

1. In the shank portion of a railroad coupler of the type having a pair of sidewalls in proximity to the coupler pin hole, said sidewalls being rigidly fastened to the rear spherical wall of the coupler butt, the improvement which comprises maintaining the thickness T of the rear spherical wall of the butt and the thickness t of the sidewalls in the approximate relationship that T: t thereby causing the force and moment distribution of the shank to change so that the proportionally stiffer and stronger rear wall resists a greater portion of the induced moment thereby providing a stress reduction in both the rear wall and the sidewalls, said improvement also serving to reinforce the rear spherical wall thereby increasing its wearing characteristics.

2. The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein the thickness T of the rear spherical wall of the butt is approximately l% of an inch. 

1. In the shank portion of a railroad coupler of the type having a pair of sidewalls in proximity to the coupler pin hole, said sidewalls being rigidly fastened to the rear spherical wall of the coupler butt, the improvement which comprises maintaining the thickness T of the rear spherical wall of the butt and the thickness t of the sidewalls in the approximate relationship that T t thereby causing the force and moment distribution of the shank to change so that the proportionally stiffer and stronger rear wall resists a greater portion of the induced moment thereby providing a stress reduction in both the rear wall and the sidewalls, said improvement also serving to reinforce the rear spherical wall thereby increasing its wearing characteristics.
 2. The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein the thickness T of the rear spherical wall of the butt is approximately 1 3/4 of an inch. 